The Very First Apostate

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BLASTED DOWNWARD!
WHY?

“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” Jude 6

The history of apostasy begins right here – with the archenemy of the Almighty. He who is the enemy of Christ is also the enemy of the people of God. Jesus told us that this devil, cast down to the earth, “walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” and has come “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.”

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” 1 Peter 5:8-9

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

Lucifer and a third of the angels of God became the very first apostates – those who were once with God then departed (1 Tim. 4:1-3). The angels were not “kept” against their own agreement or will. The same is true for humans God saves. They are never forced to remain in relationship with the LORD and if they depart (apostatize), eternal damnation awaits.

It’s a historical, biblical fact that Lucifer and a third of the angels that were previously of God and in His holy Heaven, chose to rebel and were thrust out of the LORD’s presence for good – they fell from grace.

“And he (Jesus) said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” Luke 10:18

Lucifer, like all the angels of God, was given a choice. If such were not the case, how would one-third of the angels have departed from the LORD and two-thirds freely chose not to become apostate? From this we know the angels, a distinct class of God’s creation, have free will also. See Revelation 12:7-12. Lucifer was in the grace of God, holding one of the higher offices in Heaven, until he volitionally chose to sin (Ezekiel 28:15). Jude even warns us – human beings – citing the fall or apostasy of the angels in Heaven, warning us not to do as they did (Jude 5, 21). Satan and the fallen angels are irrevocably, eternally lost after having been in the grace and Heavenly abode of the Almighty.

“Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” Ezekiel 28:15

There are many apostates on the timeline beginning with Lucifer in eternity past and from Genesis to Revelation. The book of Jude contains a list of apostates with warnings to us not to apostatize.

Judas, chosen by the LORD and promised an eternal throne in Heaven (Matt. 19:28), wasn’t faithful to the end, so he fell away into sin and is now in hell (Acts 1:25). Judas, like Lucifer, was clearly (at the time Jesus chose him as one of His very twelve) in right standing with Jesus “till iniquity was found” in him (Ezek. 28:15). Recall that like the archenemy of mankind, Judas fell by his very own transgression which is always the result of choosing to be out of fellowship with the LORD of all creation (Acts 1:25) . Beloved, any time we have fallen from the grace of God, it has been the direct result of our own transgression. May God be praised that He is “ready (postured) to forgive” as we turn to Him in repentance (Ps. 86:5, 15).

Any mere man who teaches that a saved person cannot fall from saving grace and be lost again, is simply a false teacher. Beware!

Satan’s First Lie that He is Still Telling Today! [podcast] | Calvinist Nightmare: The Judas Dilemma | The Truth About Predestination and Sealing | Satan

Dialogue:

Message Received:

“I did not say Judas was saved. He was created to fulfill a particular role in GOD’s plan.”

Reply:

Among men, Judas was the worst apostate in history. Where does God’s Word say “Judas was created to fulfill a particular role in God’s plan”?

The Bible never says that Judas was created to sin or rebel or betray Christ. God foreknew that he would do these things BUT God never created Him or anyone to sin and do evil. He is “Holy, holy, holy” and “neither tempteth he ANY man” (James 1:13).

No man in His free will is forced to obey God . The covenant Jews were “cut off” and divorced by the LORD after being HIS (Jer. 3:8; Rom. 11:20-22, etc.). We should not take “sovereignty” too far – but rather let the Scriptures alone define divine truth.

If you say we should go with “common sense” as how an earthly father would not kick his own child out, then consider that it’s common sense then that God, who is “Holy, holy, holy” and told us He’s coming back for a church/people “without spot and blemish” will not take anyone He previously saved into Heaven if they die in sin (Isaiah 6:3; Ephesians 5:25-27; Rev. 2-3, etc.). See also Hebrews 12:14.

The idea that God will force a wayward sheep back is a farce. We are talking about man not God having free will. God didn’t force Judas to return to Him. The LORD never forced Lucifer, Esau, Saul, or any other rebel to return to him.

God never planned for ANY person to rebel and go to hell. That is an indictment on the Almighty who says He cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted He ANY man and that He is not willing that ANY should perish (2 Peter 3:9; James 1:13-15, etc.).

what Scripture tells us that God Himself desires anyone to do evil/sin or go to hell, forsaking the sacrifice He wrought through His only begotten Son? God’s sovereignty can only and exclusively be measured by what He sovereignly gave us in His Word.

His FOREKNOWLEDGE in no way means He tampers with man’s free will that He sovereignly gave to man. He desires no man to sin or betray Christ.

God’s story is exclusively recorded in His written Word to correct any and all false philosophy one might have of Him (2 Tim. 3:16). God has never intended or willed any person, especially initially, to sin or be damned to hell (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9). Such a notion is a lie an an evil indictment on Him who is love.

God is only involved with evil inasmuch as He has SOVEREIGNLY given man free will and some men (most) choose to rebel. But, He never desires or intends anyone to sin or go to hell.

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James 1:13-15

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Gospel Action Mission Mexico Update Video: There Was a Faint Knock at the Door … as I Opened the Door …

Support Mission Mexico here. Takes seconds.

“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10

Mission Mexico – See more here.

Download. Read. Print out your supply of the JESUS tract – English and Spanish.

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WHEN PARENTS GET OLD …

author unknown

WHEN PARENTS GET OLD …

“Let them grow old with the same love that they let you grow … let them speak and tell repeated stories with the same patience and interest that they heard yours as a child … let them overcome, like so many times when they let you win … let them enjoy their friends just as they let you … let them enjoy the talks with their grandchildren, because they see you in them … let them enjoy living among the objects that have accompanied them for a long time, because they suffer when they feel that you tear pieces of this life away … let them be wrong, like so many times you have been wrong and they didn’t embarrass you by correcting you …

LET THEM LIVE and try to make them happy the last stretch of the path they have left to go; give them your hand, just like they gave you their hand when you started your path!

(“Honor your mother and father and your days shall be long upon the earth”.) – God”

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.” Ephesians 6:1-3

Karen Cochran writes:

“A few years ago the Lord spoke to me and I heard honor your Father and Mother. I didn’t know that my Mom would be moving close to me in a few months and I would become her primary helper. It has been one of the biggest challenges of my life because she has dementia and isn’t always kind. I have had to come home many nights and sit at the feet of Jesus and ask forgiveness because I was not like Jesus to her. Then I go back everyday because the Lord commands us to Honor our Mother. He didn’t promise it would be easy. I have to be like Jesus and say Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Luke 23: 34 .As people who have dementia do not know what they are doing or saying.”

Sharing how God is working in her life concerning her relationship with her beloved mother, Karen Cochran writes:

“I had to die to being right. Pride! How could I love her (my mother) with the love of Jesus? How would she see Jesus in me? She would not see Him in me in all my pride and arrogance! By being full of pride, all I did was stir up strife. Proverbs 10:12 ‘Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.’ Because she would retaliate and would be angry. I had to learn to keep my mouth shut. And it has completely changed our relationship. But first the Lord had to change me and cleanse me from my ‘know it all’ attitude and my pride. I went to the Lord and said ‘why is she (my mother) so mean to me’. The Lord straightened me out quick. It was me not her! I couldn’t control her! All I could do was allow God to root out what was sin in me.”

“Being broken to the core has been a continuous prayer for me. Otherwise my stone heart will hurt someone else that does not deserve to be hurt. Jesus had shown me my resentment against my parents. As I went to their grave, Jesus begin to say, ‘If they hadn’t taken you to Jesus at an early age, you wouldn’t be where you are now.’ I felt all the bitterness, anger, and hatred leave. How gracious is our Savior!” Thomas Cochran

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The LORD commands us to honor our parents and the elders He places in our lives. So, this honor is to manifest first in our families and then in the church environment, and everywhere we encounter our elders. “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” Exodus 20:12 This is a non-negotiable, divine command and one of the very Ten Commandments. “Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.” Proverbs 20:20 There is a blessing attached to honoring […]

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“God … commandeth ALL men every where to repent.” “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” Acts 17:30-31 WHEN’s the last time your favorite preacher preached on the essential doctrine of REPENTANCE? Be sure of this – Christ’s true remnant is preaching repentance. Are you preaching that […]

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Gospel Action in Mexico Part 37

UPDATE – DELIVERED FOOD TODAY; – I purchased numerous food items for Clara and her boys today. Traversing difficult terrain to deliver the goods God supplied through your faithful giving left me with a sidewall puncture. A sidewall puncture cannot be patched and replacement was quoted at $274. Settled for a used tire. In this challenge came opportunity.

God used the punctured tire for me to meet a wayward man. Jose has spent time in the USA and has family there. His wife is presently in Colorado; he expressed strain on his family. Jose received God’s Word preached to him and the JESUS tract and said “You know what? My wife is also a Christian.” Wow. So, his beloved wife is praying for him to be saved and God answered her prayer in part by connecting me with him. This opportunity is because of your support for this ministry. Can we please pray for Jose and his family?

I am continuing to learn to assert Romans 8:28-29 into everything:

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Can anyone relate?

Mark is encouraging me in helping more people, one person/family at a time. Your prayers and giving are more than important, it is essential.

I found out Clara was in need again and was moved upon by the LORD to get her and her 3 sons some food. Her whole monthly money needed to sustain her, and her boys is about $350. The house she rents is $120 per month. I will leave it there.

It is amazing how much further our contributions go in Mexico, how much more it’s multiplied. A little bit of money and ministry here goes a long way to bless and expand Christ’s kingdom! …and to give hope to the hopeless.

We continue to pray for a few more saints to assert themselves into this opportunity. God is able, amen! All I can do is let these things be known. I am blessed by your support as I am encouraged by the fruitfulness of Mission Mexico both in the reach of the spiritual needs and the physical needs of God’s children. You are responding to Jesus’ instructions in Matthew 6:19-21

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Clara’s Cry Video was featured recently. Click here.

Please lift a prayer in Jesus’ name for the fruitfulness and supply of our LORD’s work here with Mission Mexico. God be praised. Multitudes being reached daily with Jesus Christ’s bless-ed Gospel – spoken to them and given in print in the JESUS tract in Spanish.

BELOVED ANTONIO came by again tonight to get something to eat. I warmly received and welcomed him. Had him sit down and rest with fresh water to drink while his delicious meal was cooking. When he left I broke down while hugging him and letting him know you are lifting him in prayer and that God loves him. I played the Spanish Bible audio of Scripture to him while I was cooking so the Word would be planted in his heart…. WHO wants to cry out with me to our LORD for this young man? WHO wants to seek God for a complete change in his precious life? Salvation and good employment/work, etc. Let it not be that he could ever say that “No man cared for my soul.” – “I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul” (Psalms 142:4). Jesus is coming saints. Let us pour out His love to the hurting. Jesus Christ died for this beloved young man! Mission Mexico is rolling! “WE are labourers TOGETHER with God” (1 Corinthians 3:9). This is what it’s all about dear saints. Jump in. God will bless.

“The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.” Psalms 145:14

Mission Mexico!

Beloved brother in Christ, Cesar, spent the last 14 days with his beloved mother before she passed. Mark and I went to visit Cesar the day after his mother passed. Mark and I agreed that Cesar was ministering to us. We went to comfort him and he ministered to us! Whew! You are invited to lift our beloved brother Cesar in prayer.

Oh and Cesar took about 50-60 JESUS tracts to distribute.

The plans are to be spending more time fellowshipping with Cesar again soon.

Months ago, I handed Cesar a JESUS tract and we begin to talk and he shared that he is a born again disciple of Jesus. Yesterday, with tears in his eyes, Cesar shared his testimony of Jesus’ salvation of his life 24 years ago. This is a beloved brother in our LORD Jesus for certain. Unpretentious.

As is so often the case, we gave this man a JESUS tract and spoke the Word to him. A few moments later here he is hungrily reading about His Maker and King, and Savior Jesus.

Saints we are supporting a missionary in the Philippines and am thanking the LORD for your prayers and supply to our LORD’s Gospel work …..

Anyone wish to pause and lift this man to our LORD in prayer? When ministered to, Victor asked questions. He is searching. God is able.

Thank you for praying for the beautiful people of this country. More Mission Mexico coverage here.

Remember brother Justin (from Australia) whom God miraculously saved here in Mexico? He is very grateful that you are lifting him in prayer. Praying for Christ’s saints is an essential (Colossians 4:12). Today Justin sent this:

“I was reading the book of John and the woman at the well last night, contemplating how some plant seeds to be harvested by others (John 4). Just being grateful to serve the Lord without needing to see results. Bless you. You certainty planted some seeds with me. I’ll check out Titus! Thank you brother. I am working out my salvation with fear and trembling, for sure, and I wouldn’t be doing it so much harder now without your support.” Justin B.

UPDATE ON BROTHER JUSTIN B.

Thank you for lifting in prayer our brother Justin B. (Australian) here in Mexico. He was saved just a few months ago here. Here’s the latest from our brother. Please pray the Word for him. John 15; Colossians 4:12.

“I am good, brother. I am back in the slipstream of the Word. Felt like I had to experience the desert of doubt to come out with more clarity. Though, ultimately, trust in God is not necessarily clear. Getting confident in God with that ‘cloud of unknowing.’

“Daily brother. It’s my clarion call/prayer now. Diminish me but increase my faith. Purify my heart, Lord, so I may glorify Your name. Thank you for showing me the way and keeping faith in me, brother.” Justin B.

Do we recall how Jesus told Peter: “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:31-32).

Here’s the post where the account of Jesus saving Justin is contained.

Jesus Saved Justin [podcast]

This is beloved David (pictured above) who received extensive ministry of God’s love and Word. Please lift up David, Daniel, and Justin. Colossians 4:12.

Omar was invited to have you pray for him. He readily agreed and is glad to know you are lifting him to our LORD in prayer. Jesus told us He desires to save Omar (1 Timothy 2:4).

“My Dear Brother, I will continue to lift Clara and those precious children in prayer; for I know firsthand the hardship of raising 3 little ones alone in this selfish world. I am thankful to the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY for sending strangers into my life during my time of despair and brokenness. Thank you brother for being a good steward with the gifts that the people of God send into the Lord’s Ministry. May the Lord God bless and keep you all the days of your life.” Jacquie